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STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECH REPUBLIC
Faculty of Social Science of Charles University
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
Czech Republic
e-mail: CAROLINA@cuni.cz
tel: (+4202) 24810804, ext. 252, fax: (+4202) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 286, Friday, April 24, 1998.
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (April 15 - April 22)
Havel's Condition Improving after His Third Operation
Czech President Vaclav Havel has undergone a third operation in the
last week at a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was admitted
April 14 for emergency surgery to remove an infected part of his
intestine. His condition is now stabilized, he is kept under artificial
sleep in order to conserve energy and his breathing is supported by
a respiration machine, which he is gradually coming off.
Havel was operated on by the same medical team as April 14;
anaesthesiologist Bohumil Limberg was called in from Prague. According
to chief doctor Miroslav Cerbak, doctors expected lung complications and
had tried to avoid it by using breathing exercises. "The lungs are the
president's most sensitive organ, due to his longtime smoking habit. His
right lung almost does not function at all. The patient has been on
antibiotics since the first operation," said Cerbak to Czech Television
April 18. After finding out about Havel's fevers, caused by inflammation
in a part of the intestine previously operated on, doctors decided to
operate on Havel for the third time within a week. The latest operation
was performed to drain an abscess in his abdomen. Doctors said his
condition was not life-threatening. Surgery showed no evidence of any
tumor and all other organs are said to be functioning well.
Though doctors refuse to make any long-term predictions, Havel is
expected to be back in his office before the parliamentary elections in
June. His medical condition has sparked a wave of unofficial discussion
over his future replacement. Only Civic Democratic Party deputy and
Chamber of Deputies Vice Chairman Jaroslav Zverina openly asked Havel to
reconsider giving up his office for health reasons. Zverina's words
evoked strong negative reactions in the Czech public.
Jana Ciglerova/Jana Ciglerova
Freedom Union Presents Campaign Slogans
Campaign slogans for the Freedom Union will be It's Normal Not to
Lie (Normalni je nelhat), Play by the Rules (Hrat podle pravidel),
Don't Go Halfway (Neustat v puli cesty) and Don't Think Only about
Yourself (Nemyslet jen na sebe), framed by the campaign title A New
Choice. The Freedom Union presented them April 18 in Prague's National
House in Vinohrady at its second party congress. Delegates discussed
more than 20 pages of the party's platform, which is now to be approved
by party leadership. Party leadership should approve within 14 days
a definitive version of the platform.
The Freedom Union has made its priorities a functioning legal
system, upholding the law and simplifying the court process, Czech
membership in European structures and the integration of Romanies into
society while retaining their cultural identity. The party wants to
ensure that the state provides equal opportunities and becomes an
instrument of solidarity between generations. It also wants to renew
economic growth, reform the tax and pension systems, encourage
competition in education, finish privatization and price deregulation
and stimulate the housing market.
Chairman Jan Ruml said he is aware of the similarities of the
platforms of the country's three leading non-leftist parties (along with
the Civic Democratic Party and Christian Democrats), but he said the
similarity is given by parties' proximity on the political spectrum. One
significant difference in the Freedom Union platform is the proposal to
change election to the Chamber of Deputies from a proportional system to
a majority system, and in the Senate to introduce a proportional system
(see Carolina 283).
Karolina Kucerova/Michael Bluhm
Polls Still Give Retirees Chance
The agency Sofres-Factum published April 21 the latest pre-election
public opinion poll, which confirmed previous findings that the
non-parliament Party of Retirees for Life Security (Duchodci za zivotni
jistoty, DZJ) might pass the 5-per-cent limit needed for entry into the
Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. In contrast to February's
4.1-per-cent voter preferences, the party gained 6.9 per cent of
potential voters in April.
According to the most respected agencies - Sofres-Factum, STEM and
IVVM - the Social Democrats are still leading the polls with voter
preferences between 24 per cent and 26 per cent. The support of the
Civic Democratic Party (ODS) ranges between 11-16 per cent, Freedom
Union (US) 12-13 per cent, Communists (KSCM) 9-11 per cent, Christian
Democrats (KDU-CSL) 6-9 per cent and the ultra-nationalist Republicans
got (SPR-RSC) 5-7 per cent of voter preferences.
Differences in results of the particular agencies stem from the
different methodology of polling. IVVM and STEM ask people directly
about the party they will vote for in the next election, while
Sofres-Factum submits respondents a list of all existing political
parties. CEO of Sofres-Factum Jan Herzmann admits that his method is
favorable to smaller parties. When comparing poll and election results
two years ago, the STEM agency came the closest to the actual results.
Ivona Pulkrabkova/Milan Smid
NEWS IN BRIEF
* At the end of April Prime Minister Josef Tosovsky will meet the
chairman of the largest labor union (CMKOS), Richard Falbr. Tosovsky
said he wants to explain to Falbr why he cancelled the previous meeting
planned for April 9. At that time the union intended to discuss with the
Prime Minister wage increases in the public sector.
* The press reported April 16 about an Easter incident between about
50 Romanies (Gypsies) and a city police patrol in Usti nad Labem. Seven
people were injured, three of them hospitalized. Four Romanies have been
charged with racism, assaulting a public official and disturbing the
peace, and one of those charged has been taken into custody.
* Former SS member and supervisor in the Terezin (Theresienstadt) camp
Anton Malloth is a German citizen. The CTK news agency released this
information April 15, quoting the spokesman of Germany's Justice
Ministry. According to German law, Malloth cannot be extradited to the
Czech Republic, where he, after World War II, was sentenced to death as
a war criminal.
Jan Puncochar/Denisa Vitkova
FROM SLOVAKIA
Citizens in Sturovo Vote in Referendum
In the southern Slovak town of Sturovo, inhabited mostly by
Hungarians, a referendum on the direct presidential election and NATO
membership took place April 19. The referendum took place despite a ban
by the District Court in Nove Zamky and threats of violence. Perhaps the
threats led to the low voter turnout of 48 per cent, which made the
referendum invalid. Representatives of the International Society for
Human Rights present expressed their great concern about how
pro-government daily the Slovak Republic (Slovenska republika) had
appealed to the army for intervention against the referendum. Although
everything went off without incident, many citizens did not conceal
their fear of voting.
Last year the nationwide referendum on the identical issues was
stopped by government officials. After the Constitution Court ruled the
officials' steps unconstitutional, former President Michal Kovac set
a new referendum date for April 19; however, the Premier Vladimir Meciar
cancelled the April 19 referendum after taking over some presidential
powers.
Ales Bartl/Denisa Vitkova
Slovakia Still Has No President
Three candidates competed to become head of the Slovak state April
16 in the third round of presidential elections in the National
Assembly. Milan Secansky from the ruling Movement for a Democratic
Slovakia (HZDS) garnered the most votes, although even he said he does
not expect to be elected in the run-off vote April 30 (he needs the
votes of opposition assemblymen to be elected).
However, opposition members have lately been saying that electing
the HZDS candidate is the only way to stop Premier Vladimir Meciar from
fully assuming presidential authority.
Slovakia has been without a president since March 1 when Michal
Kovac's term of office expired.
Ales Bartl/Denisa Vitkova
ECONOMY
A Light at the End of the Tunnel
The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament approved a revised
Investment Funds and Investment Companies Act. Most significantly, the
bill requires funds to lower their holdings in companies from the
current maximum of 20 per cent to 11 per cent by the end of 2000. It
also requires investment and mutual funds to open if their discounts
become too large, and it requires all funds to open by the end of 2002
no matter the discount. If the bill is approved by the Senate it could
become effective in July.
According to economic expert Jan Sykora, lowering funds' shares of
companies will lead to real privatization. Finance Minister Ivan Pilip
said the revisions suggest a new government approach to the role of
funds. "We are directing them toward the area of portfolio investment
and not toward direct influence in companies," Pilip said to business
daily Hospodarske noviny. Pilip also said it is important that the new
act will reduce the rampant defrauding of funds by their managers. "The
proposal was based on analysis examining how the biggest frauds and
tunnels were and are being made in funds - for example, the use of down
payments, future contracts, etc.. All of this will be limited by the new
act," said Pilip.
Katerina Murlova/Matej Cerny
Opposition Calls on Government to Halt Privatization
The massive absence of Parliament deputies of the Civic Democratic
Party (ODS) and the Freedom Union (US) allowed the Social Democrats,
Communists and neo-Fascist Republicans to call on the government to stop
the privatization of strategic companies and banks April 19. According
to the constitution, however, the government does not have to comply
with the resolution. In the April 20 issue of business daily Hospodarske
noviny Finance Minister Ivan Pilip (US) said he will not recommend the
Government respect the resolution. The daily Lidove Noviny warned that
Parliament sent a negative signal to foreign investors. "This resolution
will certainly not improve the Government's position in preparing the
privatization of strategic companies and might significantly affect the
amount of the offers," said Miroslav Singer of Expandia Finance to the
daily.
The leftist parties and the Republicans also succeeded in cutting
the 1998 budget of the National Property Fund (FNM) from the 159.5
million crowns proposed by the Government to 139.3 million crowns.
Parliament did not approve the FNM's 1997 accounting or its annual
report. On the proposal of the Social Democrats, Parliament also
recalled most of the members of the FNM's presidium, a move intended to
lead to the removal of FNM Chairman Roman Ceska, who would be voted out
by the new presidium. Ceska is allegedly to blame for poor management of
the FNM, dubious privatizations, signing disadvantageous contracts and
the inability to make debtors, who owe the fund 5.3 billion crowns, pay.
Nora Novakova/Matej Cerny
IPB with 11-billion-crown loss for 1997
The Investment and Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka, IPB)
concluded 1997 with a loss of 11.1 billion crowns, according to IPB
Supervisory Board Chairman Randal Dillard. The loss was caused by
a dramatic increasing of the bank's reserves. On the recommendation of
new strategic partner Nomura, the bank raised its reserves and
write-offs from more than 14 billion crowns to 22 billion crowns; the
bank now has the largest reserves of any Czech bank.
IPB is planing to limit loans and will concentrate on retail
banking. This year, the bank wants to end up with profits of 2 billion
crowns and pay shareholders a dividend.
Ludvik Pospisil/Gabriela Pecic
Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank
(valid from April 24)
country currency
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 21.709
Belgium 100 BEF 90.096
Great Britain 1 GBP 55.390
Denmark 1 DKK 4.869
ECU 1 XEU 36.728
Finland 1 FIM 6.119
France 1 FRF 5.539
Ireland 1 IEP 46.775
Italy 1000 ITL 18.789
Japan 100 JPY 25.498
Canada 1 CAD 23.251
Luxemburg 100 LUF 90.096
IMF 1 XDR 44.851
Hungary 100 HUF 15.828
Netherlands 1 NLG 16.493
Norway 1 NOK 4.476
New Zealand 1 NZD 18.616
Poland 1 PLN 9.768
Portugal 100 PTE 18.130
Austria 1 ATS 2.639
Greece 100 GRD 10.701
Germany 1 DEM 18.570
Slovakia 100 SKK 95.985
Slovenia 100 SIT 19.932
Spain 100 ESP 21.864
Sweden 1 SEK 4.342
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.434
USA 1 USD 33.264
CULTURE
Prague Writers' Festival '98
Too Loud a Solitude (or In Honor of Bohumil Hrabal) is the title of
the 8th Prague Writers' Festival '98, which is taking place in the
capital April 20-25.
An interview with beatnik poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
followed by his and other poets' reading of their work, drew enormous
interest from the public and the media the first day.
The festival is divided by different themes on each day: April 21
was British day, April 22 was the day of Portuguese-speaking countries,
April 23 was Austrian day and April 25 will be dedicated to Polish
literature. The April 24 schedule is a mixture of authors from different
countries.
Some other components of the festival are photo exhibits called
Uproarious Solitude (Hrabal in pictures) and The Third Generation
(portraits of contemporary Austrian authors) and an exhibit of
photographs of Polish Nobel Prize winners. Also as part of the festival,
the City Library of Prague was re-opened on April 20.
Paula Majorova/Ajla Zinhasovic
Beatnik Days in Prague
The Beat Generation Fest is going on in Prague from April 19-24. On
April 19 at 1:30 p.m. in the Evangelical church of St. Salvatore,
Lawrence Ferlinghetti opened the festivities with the first of six
happenings, this one called Nonstop Ferlinghetti, 72 hours of continuous
reading of his verses. Readers included celebrities like Foreign
Minister Jaroslav Sedivy, former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus or any
passerby who felt like signing on. The recitation ended April 22 at 2
p.m..
Happenings like the Return of the Beat Generation (a discussion about
beatniks with Ruth Weiss, Brenda Knight and Carolyn Cassady), the 7th
International Book Fair and the 13th Prague Jazz Days took place April
22.
On the (Beat) Road is the biggest exhibition of documents about the
counterculture generation of the 50's. There are 200 panels of articles
and photographs. The organizers managed to get from Jan Frolik, the head
of the Interior Ministry's Department of Confidential Materials,
previously unreleased documentation of the expulsion of Allen Ginsberg
from Prague in 1965.
The connection between the Beat Generation Fest and the 8th Prague
Writers' Festival '98 is based on the common autograph session April 22
and the shared participation of Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Paula Majorova/Sofia Karakeva
SPORTS
Tennis Players Lose in Fed Cup: Czech Republic - Switzerland 1-4
The Czech Republic lost in the first round of the tennis KB Fed Cup
to Switzerland 1-4 in Brno. The world's top female player Martina Hingis
won three of the four Swiss points. Czech tennis players, defending last
year's semifinal finish, will have to win a later match to stay in the
World Group.
Jana Novotna (3rd in the WTA rankings) met 19-year-old Patty
Schnyder (17th). Novotna played an important match in the city she was
born in for the first time in 10 years, and she said she was nervous. In
the end she defeated Schnyder 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Hingis immediately tied the
score at 1-1 by beating Adriana Gersi 6-2, 6-1.
The second day's program April 19 was opened by the singles match
between Hingis and Novotna, a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final.
Novotna, like in Wimbledon, started stronger than Hingis, winning the
first set, then the 12-year difference between ages of Hingis, 17, and
Novotna took its toll. Hingis defeated Novotna 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and got the
important second point for Switzerland. The Swiss moved into the next
round as Schnyder defeated Gersi 6-3, 6-3. The closing doubles match
ended up with another easy Swiss win: Chladkova, Richterova - Hingis,
Schnyder 0-6, 1-6.
Hana Mandlikova said after the match she would leave the post of
team captain. "Do not look for any connection between today's loss and
my decision, because inside I resolved to take this step before the
match," she said. Mandlikova led the team for three years and took the
team from the qualification to the World Group semifinal.
Switzerland spelled doom for Czech tennis for the second time in
a short period. The Czech men lost to the Swiss in the Davis Cup three
weeks ago, which led to the firing of captain Vladislav Savrda. Savrda
was sacked just before the conference where a new executive committee
and president will be elected for the tennis union. Savrda said, "The
people who know these are their last days in the committee, including
President Kodes, took this retaliatory action against me because of my
sharp criticism of their work."
Michal Cerny/Mirek Langer
National Hockey Team Fails Twice in Preparation Matches
The Czech hockey players lost to Finland in Helsinki in both
preparation matches before the World Championships. In the first match
April 17 they lost 2-3 and then April 19 by 3-6. In both matches the
Finnish team took advantage of third-period collapses by the Czechs.
Coach Slavomir Lener was satisfied by the play of the first match, but
after the second game he complained about poor power-plays.
The Czech team will not be able to use players from the NHL (Dvorak
from Florida, Reichel from Islanders and Toronto's Prochazka) in the
Stockholm tournament because NHL management did not allow them to
participate.
Jakub Svab/Mirek Langer
Czech Hockey Players near Euro Hockey Tour Title
The Czechs defeated Finland 3-2 in the first match of the Swedish
Games in Stockholm and it is a foregone conclusion they will win the
Euro Hockey Tour, which also includes tournaments in Zlin, Moscow and
Helsinki. In the other game Sweden defeated Russia 3-1, but it has only
a slim chance to overtake the Czechs, being four points behind.
The Czechs led after Beranek's goal in the 10th minute 1-0, but
Finland turned the match in the second period thanks to Helminen and
Peltonen. The Czech team managed to regain momentum immediately on
scores by Dopita and defender Kucera. All three scorers have gold medals
from the Nagano Olympics. Goalie Cechmanek led the team to its first win
in Stockholm. Defender Srdinko was carried to hospital after he was hit
near the boards in the kidneys. Another defender also left the match
before the end as Spacek hurt his ankle.
The Czechs' 3-2 win against Canada is not counted in the standings
of the Tour, and so the Czechs have to cap off the tour championship
with a win or tie April 24 against Russia.
Jiri Polak/Mirek Langer
Soccer League: Fight between Last-Place Teams Gets Dramatic
The complete program of the soccer league's 24th round was played
April 18, except the game between Brno and Jablonec, which finished in
a tie the day before. Dukla lost to Hradec Kralove 1-2 and sank to the
bottom of the standings. Ceske Budejovice managed to win in Bohdanec and
keeps its hopes alive for staying in the top league. The four best teams
won their games: first-place Sparta (58 points), second-place Slavia
(45), third-place Olomouc (41) and fourth-place Ostrava (40).
Ninth-place Teplice has to be afraid of falling to the second league,
with a three-point edge over second-to-last-place Ceske Budejovice. Six
teams - Teplice, Opava, Dukla, Drnovice, Plzen and Ceske Budejovice
- will then fight not to be the one to fall out of the league for next
season. Last-place Bohdanec's loss determined it has now no chance to
stay in the league.
Results: Brno - Jablonec 2-2, Dukla - Hradec Kralove 1-2, Liberec
- Viktoria Zizkov 3-0, Opava - Sparta Praha 0-2, Slavia Praha - Plzen
2-1, Drnovice - Olomouc 0-2, Ostrava - Teplice 1-0, Bohdanec - Ceske
Budejovice 0-1.
Jakub Svab/Mirek Langer
WEATHER
April is playing games with us: one minute there is a gloomy sky and
7 degrees Celsius/45 degrees Fahrenheit and the next minute there's sun
and 15 degrees Celsius/59 degrees Fahrenheit. As soon as the sun shows
itself in the sky and we turn our faces toward its rays and take off our
sweaters, it brutally disappears behind black clouds and there's gloomy
weather again. It's spring and autumn at once.
Ludvik Pospisil/Sofia Karakeva
English version edited by Michael Bluhm
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